Where are the Dems on Iran?

Earlier today, Billmon noted the absence of any hue and cry from the press about the Administation's plans to nuke Iran. Actually, I think there's been a reasonable amount of press coverage, though certainly not a howl. The better question, which Steve Soto at the Left Coaster asks is "where are the Democrats?" As far as I know, not a single one has spoken out forcefully against this absolutely crazy, insane idea.

I bring this up because of what we are now hearing from the administration on Iran. The Democrats have yet to draw a line in the sand against any administration war drive this fall. You will remember that there were signs in the spring and summer of 2002 that the administration was gunning for Iraq as a midterm election diversionary tactic, yet the Democratic leadership didn’t use the summer recess to set the negatives on the administration’s record or lack of credibility. As a result, by the time that Congress came back from recess in August, as Andy Card said, the White House was able to roll out its new product just before the midterms, and the Democrats were unable to push back effectively against the war resolution just before the election for fear of being labeled weak on national security less than a year after 9/11. Yet here we are again, four years later, with the White House beating the drums even louder and earlier, and still there is no Democrat out there directly challenging the Bush war drive on Iran, and labeling the GOP as the permanent war party that is inept on national security...

So why in hell is it so difficult for any national Democrat to take Bush on over Iran, and use the war drive as the opportunity to remind voters of a similar campaign four years ago? Due to Bush and Cheney’s criminal negligence and stubbornness, we have few good options to deal with Iran, except to talk with them directly. What political harm is there in reminding voters that Bush has botched the handling of Iran to the point that our only good choice is direct talks?

Is this another case of everyone being on vacation? Or, is it the faint hearted Dems once again trying to hide from taking any position that might make then look as though they're against a war?